"How Do You Find New Music?" Vol. 1 - Substacks and Newsletters
A new series highlighting my personal tips and tricks for staying on top of releases and discovering new bands.
This a question that I often come across, whether it’s from a random commenter on the Internet asking for help with their own musical digestion, or a direct question from someone I know asking, “Erin, how do you find all these bands?!”
I hear the question enough to know that this is a pain point for both listeners and artists, and it’s usually presented with an air of frustration, exhaustion, or apathy. It’s easy to get stuck in the same repertoire of artists that you’ve been listening to for awhile, and feel like there’s nothing “new” to find in the traditional avenues of mainstream radio or streaming platform algorithms, or feel absolutely overwhelmed but the amount displayed by major publications like Rolling Stone or Pitchfork. For artists, it’s become an uphill battle to get your music through to ears, due to sheer oversaturation and barriers to promotion via the most accessible means to listeners.
And yes, there’s a handful of people at there who are stubborn in the notion that there’s “no more good new music” and that everything is reductive of the past - and it’s hard for me to not shake those people’s shoulders and yell “Open your fucking eyes!” But I think a majority of other people exist on a level where they are open to discovering something new, but ideally without having to exert too much energy for it.
And I get that. Staying locked TF in is a daunting, and sometimes nearly impossible, task. I estimate that I spend around 20 hours a week listening to new releases and catching up on ones I didn’t get to from the last week/month/year. Tack that on top of trying to listen to those ones that I liked more than once, trying to re-discover bands of the past, and scheduling in my daily dose of Oasis or 2000’s indie rock hits, and I quickly run out of hours in the day.
I had to accept a long time ago that I can’t listen to everything, nor may I necessarily want to. But I really do love discovering new music - there’s a pure joy for me in finding a new song or album that makes my brain light up. I love connecting with new releases from smaller artists, where I can see their hard work and progress grow from a small yet determined state. And I love listening to hits from the big artists. But really what I love most is taking a chance on something new and having that risk pay off in high reward; that’s what keeps me motivated to putting in the hard work each week.
I first attempted to write this post as a comprehensive list of all of the ways that I discover new music - and quickly hit the word cap after a few sections. Turns out I have a lot more to say about it than I thought. Luckily, there are plenty of avenues for new music discovery, and there’s a delicious array of options to sample from whenever you want to get your kick. I think it’s really about finding the best sources for you and learning about how you like to interact with music.
So instead, I’m going to break this down into a volumes to give them the proper attention they deserve, and maybe at the end, I’ll create some sort of master list.
Given you are currently reading this on Substack, it seems that there’s no better place to start. I appreciate that Substack is centralized resource where I can follow blogs and newsletters from individuals who are using their voice to talk about new releases. I also really enjoy the community aspect it provides. And I like that it also has the traditional option of other newsletters to deliver directly to your email.
There are also great newsletters that exist outside of this platform - in this post, I’ll highlight 6 great Substacks and newsletters that I frequently use for new music discovery.
is a fellow Philadelphian and a fellow new music warrior, pumping out fantastic recommendations for new artists and releases.I recommend new music for people who don’t keep up with it.
This is a place for people who want to get into new music but feel overwhelmed by it, or maybe even think it hasn't been good since [insert whatever decade it was that you were in your 20s]. Basically, I’m trying to get you excited about music discovery again.
New Bands For Old Heads features playlists, reviews, artist features, and community discussions, dropping at least on a weekly basis. Here’s a great article to start off with to understand more about Gabbie’s mission.
I personally love reading Gabbie’s posts about breaking through the veils that keeps new releases out of our immediate grasps, and check out her monthly recommendations for new albums that I might’ve missed out on. Also, I’m ecstatic to find another person who loves indie sleaze as much as me, and local to boot! Lastly, if you want to support Gabbia via a paid subscription, you can join an awesome Discord where we frequently discuss new releases.
When I found
’s Substack, I felt a comradery as a person who started doing all of this just because I loved going to concerts and finding new music.Recent and Decent is all about celebrating new music.
Every week I send out a Recent and Decent playlist, which is comprised of 7 songs for the week ahead: all recent, all decent. I like to mix up the genres just to keep things interesting.
In his Substack, you’ll find brief recommendations and playlists for recent music he’s enjoyed, monthly gig recaps, and community playlists where he encourages his followers to submit songs based on a theme he presents.
I enjoy reading his posts because they deliver concise recommendations and because we seem to have a lot of overlapping taste in indie rock, alternative rock, and post-punk artists. I also get really envious of his awesome UK gigs.
This blog is headed by the legend
from WXPN in Philadelphia, covering some of his sets from the radio, and also delivering great recommendations on new music to check out.A newsletter about musicians, songs, albums, etc that I am particularly excited about and want to share with other music lovers. It’s that simple. In college I started a fanzine (“The Blaster”), that led to several years as a freelance music writer (RIP Option Magazine, and others), that ultimately led to my now 30+ years in radio. I started an MP3 blog called Some Velvet Blog in 2004, in the OG blog days before the MP3 blog world got co-opted by the music industry machine.
In addition the great sets he spins, Bruce writes great posts about his monthly favorites, 10 bands to check out, and additional blogs about music and history.
From interacting with Bruce in person at WXPN and online via Substack, I really respect his love for old music and his continued passion for new releases, and his support of the Philadelphia music scene. Sometimes I spend too much time focusing on new releases that I forget that I can also discover music from the past and it would still be “new” to me. Some Velvet Blog is a great mix of both!
delivers very comprehensive reviews and recommendations for music, formatted in a way that reminds me of a lot of my favorite music blogs in the late 00s.I love to share music - I listen to a lot of it, so I figured why not build a place to put my thoughts?
Through his Substack, he discusses a wide array of music via the following methodologies:
Big posts of mini-reviews/thoughts of what I’ve been listening to, new and old.
Weekly(ish) posts about what new music released on Friday.
Year-end lists.
I appreciate Dan’s posts for also providing an emoji legend to denote his favorite picks of the week, as sometimes I too am overwhelmed about the number of recommendations out there. I always find something new or outside of my comfort zone on The Discover Tab, and I appreciate that it helps me broaden my horizons.
This is my first non-Substack weekly newsletter feature, presented by the festival All Things Go, that delivers free new music recommendations to your mailbox each week.
Our core demographics lie within the LGBTQ+ community, women/nonbinary individuals, and alternative/indie music enjoyers.
We feature the Best of the Week content: the latest music, TV shows, social media moments, curated hyperlinks to cool internet finds, an up to date style section, and our Top 10 Songs of the Week. This content is co-curated with our Bestie of the Week, offering an intimate window into the day-to-day lives of your favorite musicians, artists, and bands. Past Besties include: Gigi Perez, The Backseat Lovers, The Aces, and The Last Dinner Party.
I love the nostalgic feel of the posts, and I’m a lover of media in general so I appreciate that there are discussions of all things internet, television, and social media wrapped into each post. In terms of new music discovery though, I love their weekly playlist of the top 10 releases of the week. While I may focus on spotlight artists in many of my blogs, I also just love pop music at heart, and this is a reliable way for me to find out what new indie and pop tracks have been released this week.
Richard Evans delivers newsletters (non-Substack) via email and his website that highlight a single band or artist each week.
I believe great music should be shared, cherished, and understood from all sorts of perspectives.
Each newsletter follows a format that tells you 1) who the band/artist is, 2) what to expect sonically, and 3) an album/track recommendation. I think this is a great newsletter for someone who wants a consistent format that focuses on one artist each week. If you view his blog via the web as well, there are helpful filters based on genre for you to look through past posts to find some new bands.
Overall, Substacks and newsletters have been a great way for me to discover new bands and releases, and have helped me embrace reading more about recommendations rather than solely relying on streaming services to drop something new in front of me. I love seeing the way people use their unique voice to talk about new music, and the different ways that people format their deliveries.
Do you have a favorite Substack or newsletter that recommends new releases or has helped you discover artists, old and new?
Be sure to join in for the next volume of "How Do You Find New Music?", where I’ll highlight some awesome playlists I use to help me discover artists. And if you’re new here, feel free to subscribe to checkout my spotlight recommendations and monthly recaps.
Until then,
x Erin
Your continued support is always appreciated, and every follower counts! Thank you!
I've found so much good music cause of Substack since joining the past year by following writers such as yourself. And it feels so good to get it from actual people recommending them, giving me context, from hearing how passionate they are talking about them is what makes me curious.
AI recommendation just feels meaningless and (regardless of how each platform advertise them as to 'your personal taste') so unpersonal
Brilliant. Thank you. 🎸🤘👊